Sploder is nominally a web-based game-making tool, but, actually, it’s more a collection of tools that make different yet somehow all sort of same-ish platform games. I think either different developers made different tools and then one person bundled them together or one developer kept starting and stopping projects and decided to release all of them instead of making one really good tool. They all sort of are meh with inconsistent creation metaphors, inconsistent levels of in-tool help, etc. It’s all sot of haphazard, and it’s hard to recommend Sploder over something like Construct 2 or GameMaker Studio. I basically wrote this in a review for Graphite (not yet published), too.

Anyway, I didn’t feel comfortable writing the review until I had checked out each of the tools. I’ve already written about one game I made in July, sHMUP bLUFF[write up], but I went and made two more games (in July and August) that explore the same themes of trying to break the conventions of platform or 2D sprite games.

In sHMUP bLUFF, you’re meant to just stay still and let your loved ones take care of your external worries for you (while you focus your energy on your own depression). In Friends Ignore You and Using Friends, I tried to make games where the enemy blocks or monsters are actually representative of your friends, so you don’t want to fight them and you want to use them rather than avoid them. Really short games, but here’s all three:

Hi! My name is Geoff, and I’m the creator of Sploder. While I appreciate your review, I think you glossed over the site’s tools and features without really going into any detail, or looking at the site as a whole. Sploder has grown organically over the past 7 years, and it’s all built by me, a single developer. That may explain a bit of the inconsistency (which I agree with to a certain extent.)

Keep in mind that Sploder’s purpose is to provide an extremely low barrier of entry into game-making, while also providing a way to share games and get feedback on those creations.

I’d encourage you to take a second look at Sploder, not just as a game-making tool, but as a suite of tools that allow a community of enthusiastic and creative members share their creations, play and challenge each other together.